Effects of acupuncture on serotonin and norepinephrine in hippocampus of depressed model rats
【Abstract】Objective To observe how acupuncture affects the mechanism of depression model rats.Methods Using Open-Field method to randomly select 40 adult SD male rats into normal control, model group, drug treatment and acupuncture treatment group, 10 rats per group. Separation, long term unpredictability, medium stimulation techniques were applied to modify rats? behavior. Then using Open-Field method to reflect changes in depressed model rats? behavior between groups treated with acupuncture and control. And the concentration of monoamine neurotransmitters and their metabolites in hippocampus of rat brain were determined by HPLC-ECD. Results Compared with normal control, acupuncture treatment group’s behavior was not different （P＞0.05）on the 7th day after treatment. On the 21th day after treatment, acupuncture treatment group’s behavior was not different （P＞0.05）with drug treatment group, and was more different with model group（P＜0.01）. Compared with normal group on the 21th day of treatment, the concentration of serotonin and norepinephrine in hippocampus of acupuncture treatment group was not different （P＞0.05）, whereas was more different with model group （P＜0.05，P＜0.01）.Conclusion This experiment proved that acupuncture treatment could change the behavior abnormality of depressive model rats. The curative effects is comparable to flouxetine. The changes of the concentration of serotonin and norepinephrine in hippocampus are one of the mechanism.
